It can often be difficult for a customer to select an appropriately sized garment, such as a pair of trousers, if the garment cannot be tried on. For example, where a customer orders a garment from a mail order catalogue, it is often the case that the garment, once delivered, does not fit the customer. This results in many items being returned to the supplier. This is inconvenient for the customer and expensive for the supplier. There are many different suppliers of clothing and, even when using uniform standard sizing systems, each supplier's products are not necessarily the same size as those of another supplier. This makes it even more difficult for the customer to choose an appropriate size.
Difficulties also arise where it is not possible for a clothing outlet to include changing rooms on their premises—for example, in a particularly small shop. Even where changing room facilities are provided, they are often inadequate (particularly at very busy times, such as during a sale) and customers have to queue for some time to try clothing on.
Several methods have been proposed to overcome the problem of ill-fitting clothing. For example, methods to determine body measurements in order to provide garments that accurately fit an individual have been proposed. For example US 2002/0166254 A1 discloses a stretch bodysuit which provides uniform markings at which accurate body measurements can be taken using a tape measure. The measurements are used to produce a custom-made garment. This system, however, is not useful to suppliers that produce a set range of sizes, such as mail order companies, or clothing retailers.
It is also known, as disclosed in JP2002-212823 for example, to provide a customer with samples of sections of a garment. The customer can then select the most appropriate size for each section from the samples provided, and custom-made garment is supplied. However, this is also unsuitable for mass-manufacturing or mail order clothing companies who do not seek to supply custom-made clothing.
It is not known, however, to provide a method whereby a customer can select a correctly sized garment produced by a particular company without trying it on.